This is a record of my journey as a Muslim. I used to be Catholic and belonged to a missionary organisation. After my conversion, I sat on the board of a Muslim converts' organisation and specialised in da'wah programmes, convert management, interfaith issues and apostasy cases. I am an initiate of a Sufi order. As such, the articles and writings tend to cover these areas.
All the Arabic and graphics could not have been done without the help of my wife, Zafirah.

What Shaykh Nuh Ha Mim Keller said, is that
there are two kinds of salasil, one
authentic and the other inauthentic. The
first, muttasilah, goes back to the
Prophet (s.a.w.) through living masters
that have transmitted the thariqa’ before
witnesses or by written documents. The
second one, munqathi, comes from a
dead master or is said to be directly from the Prophet (s.a.w.) but cannot be verified and is considered inauthentic. The question then is, would the Tijaniyyah be considered to have a silsilah munqathi according to this
definition.

Shaykh Nuh praised al-Hajj ‘Umar al-Futhi (q.s.) and Shaykh ‘Ali ad-Daqar (q.s.), two great Tijani shuyukh, in his “Reliance of the
Traveller”. In no manner is he attacking
the Tijani thariqa’. Rather, he is mentioning a general rule of
Sufism which is true, with certain exceptions.

Imam as-Suyuthi (q.s.) mentioned in his Ta'yid
al-Haqiqah al-‘Aliyyah wa Tashyid ath-Thariqah ash-Shadziliyyah that there
were awliya’ who took directly from
the Rasul (s.a.w.) and said, “We have
no shaykh but him,” meaning the
Prophet (s.a.w.).

Furthermore, Shaykh Nuh was referring to is men
who have never had any shaykh,
training or authorisation and have simply started claiming wilayah or that they are shuyukh.
This is akin to these many new-Age pseudo-Sufis
in the West. Shaykhuna al-Khatm, Shaykh at-Tijani (q.s.) himself warned of such men and stated that whoever claims to
be a shaykh without Permission will
die in kufr.

In the case of Shaykh at-Tijani (q.s.), he made suluk in many thuruq and received
complete ‘ijazah and idzn from his masters to guide. He initiated some into the Khalwati thariqa’. He was authorised shaykh murabbi when he met Sayyid
al-Wujud Muhammad (s.a.w.). The Jawahir
al-Ma’ani mentioned his entire sanad
in the Khalwati path, as well as the bisharah
of his shuyukh that he superseded. What he received thereafter from our Beloved
Prophet (s.a.w.) was the confirmation
of his maqam.

Shaykh Nuh himself wrote in that article, “Because
some of our shuyukh’s path was not
completed without having met two or more shuyukh,
we have noted whom they took as a second shaykh
in numbered footnotes, as best we knew, and so have also detailed in
sub-footnotes the chains of those in the main footnotes who joined between two
or more preceding spiritual lines back to the beginning. We have separated each level with lines drawn
between them to perfect the benefit and seek the best way possible. We must realise that most thuruq overlap and depend upon each
other’s lines.”

Imam ash-Shadzili (q.s.) himself said, "Previously, I had one shaykh; now I have eight: four in Heaven
and four on Earth.” He then named the four
archangels and the four Khulafah. In the same manner as Shaykh Ahmad at-Tijani
(q.s.), Imam ash-Shadzili (q.s.) progressed from his this-worldly shaykh
to the eight shuyukh al-barzakh. Shaykhuna
al-Khatm, Shaykh al-Tijani (q.s.)
progressed from his worldly shaykh, Shaykh
Mahmud al-Kurdi (q.s.), to Sayyid al-Wujud Muhammad (s.a.w.).

Imam ash-Shadzili (q.s.) received the Hizb
al-Bahr from Sayyid al-Wujud
Muhammad (s.a.w.), and Shaykh Ahmad at-Tijani
(q.s.) received the wird.
In any case, veracity of the Tijani thariqa’
is apparent in the number of its adherents, the acclaim of its ‘ulama and the maqamat of its awliya’.